General Motors Now Offering $4,000 (Or More) Off Chevrolet Volt To Increase Sales

As the longest-running, mass produced electric vehicle on sale today in the United States, the Chevrolet Volt has hit a wall of sorts when it comes to sales (chart below). A not at all surprising fact considering the influx of many new plug-in options over the 30+ months the extended range Chevy has now been on the market.

All Customers Now Eligible For At Least $4,000 Off…Many Will Do Much Better Still

The Ford C-Max Energi began the assault on Volt sales in late 2012, and Ford continued to chip at the Chevy’s base with the introduction of the Fusion Energi that went on sale in February of 2013.

Even more recently, although not in direct competition, was the new, $6,000+ cheaper 2013 Nissan LEAF (which starts at $28,800), that saw the 75 mile EV’s sales more than triple over the past three months.

So what is Chevrolet to do with the Volt, with a starting MSRP that still stands at $39,145? Here are the options open to GM as we see them:

Offer large discounts on current inventory

Improve the features and capabilities of the platform

Lower the MSRP on the 2014 model

Accept the new sales levels as an acceptable reality for the Volt

Having watched GM operate for the past several years, we don’t feel they have any intention of letting the Chevrolet Volt go silently into the night and become a sales footnote in the history of the electric vehicle in the US.

Likewise, the 2014 model year is set in stone…and no significant improvements are in store that can give the Volt a more competitive advantage at $39,000+; unless you are really jazzed about two new color choices (Ashen Gray Metallic And Brownstone Metallic), a leather wrapped stealing wheel, and the option to add heated seats.

Only Minor Changes Are In Store For The 2014 Chevrolet Volt, Such As New Color Choices Ashen Gray Metallic and Brownstone Metallic

That leaves larger discounts and a new MSRP as viable options for the General.

As for the lowing of the MSRP on the 2014 model year, that has not happened yet, but we at InsideEVs will eat our proverbial hat if that reduction is not announced in the coming weeks. Until then, GM is faced with moving about 9,000 – 2013 Volt inventory units off dealership lots ahead of the 2014s…and that means discounting!

Unfortunately, GM has already been offering a couple deep discount deals for several months now during the current sales lull: a $2,000 discount plus financing incentive, and a $3,000 straight cash off the Volt offer. So, what to do?

Offer more cash, and more incentives of course!

Last Year 23,461 Chevy Volts Were Sold…GM Looks Now To Heavier Discounting And Perhaps A Future Price Reduction To Play Catch-Up (*Estimated Tesla North America numbers have been included in this graph, which include Canadian sales)

While we eagerly anticipate the 2014 Chevrolet Volt to be priced more in line with the market, General Motors has taken interim steps to move the needle on sales for this summer, by offering $4,000 cash off the car or $2,000-$3,000 off in addition to other financing incentives. Click “Build Your 2013 Chevrolet Volt” online now, and note that the rebate is instantly offered.

Also available for many is $1,000 in bonus conquest dollars (that is of course provided you are currently leasing any of the competition’s products) – meaning many customers can walk into their local Chevy dealer and receive $5,000 of the price of a new Volt, bringing the starting MSRP down as low as $34,145 (plus $895 destination)

Here are the deals which are effective in the month of June:

$2,000 off + 0% financing for 60 or 72 months

$3,000 off + 0% financing for up to 48 months

$4,000 off

As for the additional $1,000 off being offered by Chevy, here is all the fine print on that:

$1000 Cash Incentive. CURRENT LESSEES of 1999 or newer SELECT MAKE NON GM Vehicle get the following toward Purchase or lease. Must be currently leasing a qualifying unit in order to qualify.

Leave a Reply

Hmmm. Makes me wonder if I could trade in my 2011 Nissan Leaf which still has a year left on the lease, and come out with a better deal on a 2013 Volt. My payment on the Leaf is $410 per month. If I could beat that, it might be worth the trade. I suspect the issue will be the lower resale values on the Leaf would kill me trying to get out of the lease early, though.

You can easily beat that lease payment on a Volt – some are under $300/mo for 12,000 and if making a great deal, 15,000/yr. You really can’t trade-in a lease, they do a pay-off of the lease and roll that into your next payment. So, honestly, your Volt payment would probably be > $400 with that. When the Leaf lease runs out, you have even better opportunities next June for older Volts and also perhaps the Gen-2 volts.

I think the $4000 rebate is a great incentive. BUT THEY ARE NOT ADVERTISING THAT. It does not attract people to a shop unless the shop advertises the rebate and people rarely read the newspaper to look for car deals. Most buyers think Volts are $40,000 cars which cost GM $100,000 to build based on older faux news stories. It’s hard to uncondition the public. GM has to put out a public ad campaign. Even if it is only one week in June. To get sales up again. Otherwise, dealers will be hard pressed to support Volts ongoing or even the next wave of EVs since they don’t want to have to buy all those tools and service training sessions when they’re only going to sell 2 or 3 per year. The public knowing that Volts are dropping in price WILL bring buyers in. Don’t wait until gas prices increase – and at that time, dealers will not let the public know about the GM rebates (because they want to try to keep them to themselves as part of the negotiations). Right now, the best Volt deals are at the high volume dealers. The rest – they don’t care as… Read more »

I think that is true about the discount and the general public’s realization of its existence…the discount is more of a closing tool than anything else. Of course, this is pretty much true of a lot of OEM promotions like this.

The (most likely) lowering of the MSRP for 2014 will be many, many times more effective.

You rarily see this move (lowering of MSRP) outside of plug-ins (and other vehicles that have had a technological advance reducing costs), on slower selling cars, as you open yourself up to making the public become accustomed to the new price point, you kill your margins, bastardize sales from elsewhere in your lineup, and then are generally faced with still having to start another discounting program from the new ‘lower low’ in the future. A very net-negative scenario.

More often than not, slower sales mean a model refresh, or new offering.

I think it is fascinating to see the distribution of the US economy. There are only three electric cars with any real sales effort so far. But even if your throw in all the other plugin sales with the Volt and Leaf, combined retail value is about equal to Tesla S value. It is a new world.

I’ve never been a fan of the lease, or rather not the concept of leasing itself, but how they are promoted, because of the “wibbly wobbly, timey wimey” aspect to it (full credit to Doctor Who on the quote), so many moving parts, fees, restrictions, etc…then when you add in the federal credit math for plug-ins, it gets worse.

All you care about is the net commitment amount over time. In the case of the entry level Volt, you are looking at a really good deal at around $8,500 incl the conquest cash, 9,000 without. Still decent at $9,500. ie) $225ish with $1,500 down ($9,600) is the ballpark you should be looking around (imo)

Volt is my first lease ever. I did it because of the many unknowns such as resale value. So far, a lease deal may be my best overall value as I get a new car every time with no (we’ll see) residual value problems.

Afternoon Jay, I always enjoyed your Op’s comments and posts in the early, early days over at GM-Volt. You were always a great pot stir-er up-er! I am still having lama nightmares! lol So, I am trying to wrap my Voltec Brain around just what you point is to this article that appears to be critical of the very technological disruptive nature of the Chevy Volt and is gradual rise to massive sales numbers. Where to begin… 1 )Ok, let’s address a so called price reduction. First, let us find out just what a Volt is and what it compares to. Aside from the ability of this machine to be driven on normal commutes for days, weeks months without using a drop of gas in the warmer months just what should we compare this Volt to? An outstanding source for this information is the website of US News. A well respected publishing powerhouse dealing in hard hitting business, financial, political, world events and news of interest since 1948. On the website of Us News, they rate new cars. Us News has concluded that the 2013 Chevy Volt is an UpScale Midsized Car. That being cars sold worldwide that range in… Read more »

I agree. But still some things bother me. While on US market Chevy Volt could be considered sucsesfull, internationaly success is vague. High sales price, no manufacturing nor in Europe neither in Asia. For instance Nissan manufacturing Leafs in Japan, UK and US but GM droped any plans with Opel Ampera.
No promotion plans or advertizing campains in Europe or dedicated dealerships like Tesla is doing. In Europe we do not have limitations on internet sales or manufacturer dealerships contrary what you have in US. In my country (Lithuania) I can purhase Tesla but not Ampera or Volt
(not every country in Europe has special rules which differ from US). There are some fans owning Chevy Volt without any warantee and service avalability in 1000 km range while Opel dealerships are avalable in every town. I asked GM representitive when Ampera will be available and got responce that I will be informed. And I heard thay situation is same in Germany as well.

Well done Thomas. You should have or still should submit as a story. All of us here have clear preferences. It partly comes from watching the grass grow and getting caught up in the minutia of the industry, but when it turns to prejudice “we” are no longer helping the cause. I try to check myself regularly because I really really believe we all want the EV to succeed no matter the victors.

FYI, hat tip is Nick Williams. Was visiting his shop in my Volt and he showed me the rebate piece. I asked him to forward to the insideEVs gang to share. Nick is looking at all technologies for his next vehicle. Hey Nick, there are many to choose from as long as it is an E. V. that is!